One enters, another exits council races

7 Democrats compete for 5 spots in Schenectady

The most competitive City Council race in years is starting in earnest, as community activist Damonni Farley announced his campaign on Tuesday — the first day candidates were authorized to circulate petitions for ballot access.

“I think people know good things come from a diversity of ideas,” Farley said. “When you’re doing work in the community for a long time, they know what to expect and they know that you’re working for the most marginalized people in the city for a long time, and they’re in touch with that.”

At the same time, William Rivas bowed out of the race, keeping the field of Democratic hopefuls at seven.

Rivas said he wanted to focus on current projects, including his work with C.O.C.O.A. House, the after-school mentoring program headquartered in the city’s Hamilton Hill neighborhood.

“I have a commitment to the youth before anything and it wouldn’t be fair for me to move onto another commitment until I fulfill my commitment to the community and the kids,” Rivas said on Tuesday.

Seven Democrats are vying for five slots.

Incumbent City Council President John Mootooveren and council members Karen Zalewski-wildzunas and Marion Porterfield are all seeking reelection, with hopefuls Thearse Mccalmon, Carl Williams and Haileab Samuel rounding out the field.

Yet the pack is broken into two distinct lanes, and registered Democrats will cast ballots for two separate races.

If all seven candidates qualify for ballot access, voters will be required to select three candidates seeking four-year terms between Farley, Mootooveren, Porterfield, and Zalewski-wildzunas, and two seeking two-year terms between Mccalmon, Williams and Samuel.

All three incumbent lawmakers head into the spring with the support of the city Democratic Committee, which formally endorsed the slate last week.

Williams and Samuel also received their endorsement, as well as support from Mayor Gary Mccarthy, giving the newcomers additional organizational muscle as they seek signatures for ballot access.

Mccalmon, Williams and Farley have been endorsed by the Working Families Party, which declined to endorse Mootooveren this year.

This year marks Farley’s second attempt at a City Council seat, running in 2017 as a Working Families Party candidate after getting knocked off the Democratic line when his signatures were challenged. City Council has seen an unusual degree of churn this year.

Ordinarily, three seats of the seven-member body would be on the ballot in November, but the departures of Leesa Perazzo and Ed Kosiur earlier this winter created two additional vacancies.

Democratic officials initially sought to quash a primary by having their two endorsed candidates appointed by City Council, who instead opted to keep the seats open in an attempt to ignite a primary.

And while the lack of diversity was initially an animating force, those concerns have since been muted.

All but one of the Democratic candidates, Zalewski-wildzunas, are people of color.

“We need to embrace this slate and acknowledge the fact that Schenectady has come a long way,” said Mootooveren last week, referring to candidates who received the Democratic endorsement.

Republicans are running three candidates:

Kevin Hammer, Vivian Parsons and Brendan Nally. Nally ran and fell short in 2019, a year that saw the body convert to all-democratic control following the defeat of Vince Riggi, the body’s lone independent.

GOP officials have said they hope a spirited Democratic primary will work to their advantage.

Candidates have until March 25 to circulate petitions.